The Simplicity of Complexity

December 11, 2018Paradiso Noord (Tuinzaal) Amsterdam
The Simplicity of Complexity
Doors open: 19:30
Start programme: 20:30
Paradiso Noord (Tuinzaal)
IJpromenade 2
Amsterdam

Are crowds of people predictable? Can we disrupt criminal networks by taking out the kingpins? Is Oprah Winfrey more influential than you are? Can mistakes help to deliver a message faster? Are we reaching a pandemic tipping point, and if so, can we avoid it?We live in a complex world and are surrounded by complex systems. From a biological cell, made of thousands of different molecules that work together seamlessly, to our global society; a collection of seven billion individuals that try to work and live together. These complex systems display endless signatures of order, disorder, self-organisation and self-annihilation. Understanding this complexity is one of the biggest scientific challenges of our time. In this talk we will discuss how this complexity emerges at the edge of chaos, we will peek into the collective behaviour of crowds of people, the intricacies of the immune system and the (un-)importance of the kingpins of criminal networks, all 'magically' emerging from the simple rules of Nature.

The Simplicity of Complexity thumbnail

Peter Sloot

The Simplicity of Complexity

Are crowds of people predictable? Can we disrupt criminal networks by taking out the kingpins? Is Oprah Winfrey more influential than you are? Can mistakes help to deliver a message faster? Are we reaching a pandemic tipping point, and if so, can we avoid it?

Talk by

Peter Sloot

Full professor in computational science at university of Amsterdam, professor of advanced computing at ITMO St. Petersburg in Russia and director of the complexity institute in Singapore and scientific director of the Institute for Advanced Study at the university of Amsterdam. Peter tries to understand how nature processes information. He studies this 'natural information processing' in complex systems by computational modeling and simulation as well as through formal methods.

Peter Sloot

Music by

MORADO

Psychedelic pop band MORADO will take you on a journey through their universe with songs inspired by the psychedelic movement from the 60s/70s and sci-fi from the 80s. Their songs sound like a colorful, extraterrestrial jungle with catchy chorus’, moving melodies, wavy vintage sounds and bombastic sound explosions.

MORADO